The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze
Film poster
Directed by	Norman Maurer
Produced by	Norman Maurer
Written by	Norman Maurer
Based on	Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Jay Sheffield Joan Freeman
Music by	Paul Dunlap
Cinematography	Irving Lippman
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	August 21, 1963 (1963-08-21) (U.S.)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,000,000[1]

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze is the fifth feature film made by The Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. By this time, the trio consisted of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita (dubbed "Curly Joe"). Directed by Howard's son-in-law Norman Maurer, the film was loosely based on the Jules Verne classic Around the World in Eighty Days.

Plot

Phileas Fogg III (Jay Sheffield), great-grandson of the original Phileas Fogg, accepts a bet to duplicate his great-grandfather's famous trip around the world in response to a challenge made by Randolph Stuart III, the descendant of the original Fogg's nemesis. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, "Stuart" is the infamous con man Vicker Cavendish (Peter Forster) who made the bet in order to cover up his robbing the bank of England by framing Fogg for the crime.

With him in this plot is his weaselly Cockney co-conspirator Filch (Walter Burke). This makes for a dangerous journey for Fogg and his servants (the Stooges) and Amelia Carter (Joan Freeman), whom they rescue from thugs during a train ride. On the way, they also: try to steal a cream pie from the galley of a Turkey-bound British cargo ship (and poke the cook in his fat behind with a fishing gaff in the process); watch an elaborate Indian dance at a maharajah's palace, where blind-as-a-bat Curly Joe also regales the maharajah and the viceroy with knife throwing—until his disguise falls off; get captured in China by the Chinese Army, and survive Communist brainwashing in Shanghai with their interrogators turning into Chinese Stooge clones (Moe tells the Chinese general, "No brainee to washee!").

The disgusted Chinese set them adrift in a small boat; use Curly Joe's music-provoked strength to cadge food, clothes, and a trip to San Francisco from the manager of the monstrous sumo Itchy Kitchy (Iau Kea) after a demonstration in a park in Tokyo; stow away in a moving van, supposedly headed for New York City. Of course, they are caught, and arrested in Canada by the British inspector (the Stooges and Amelia fake British accents so the inspector will arrest them too).

Back in London, they cross paths again with the two conspirators, again disguised as police—and armed. Of course, the Stooges win out, and, as with the original Phileas Fogg, his descendant miscalculated by one day and still has a chance. Curly Joe gets behind the wheel of the Bobby paddy wagon and speeds across London, and young Fogg wins the bet—crashing into the Reformer's Club with two seconds to spare.

Cast

• Moe Howard as Moe
• Larry Fine as Larry
• Joe DeRita as Curly Joe
• Jay Sheffield as Phileas Fogg III
• Joan Freeman as Amelia Carter
• Walter Burke as Lory Filch
• Peter Forster as Vickers Cavendish/"Stuart"
• Maurice Dallimore as Inspector J. B. Crotchet
• Richard Devon as Maharajah
• Anthony Eustrel as Kandu
• Iau Kea as Itchi Kitchi
• Robert Kino as Charlie Okuma
• Phil Arnold as Referee
• Emil Sitka as Butler at Reformer's Club
• Laurie Main as a member of the Reformer's Club

Joan Freeman is the only surviving principal cast member.

Production

A number of Three Stooges themes are on display in this feature. Among them:

• The Stooges working as domestic servants (and proving barely competent to do the job), as in An Ache in Every Stake (1941).
• The Stooges – and, in this case, their companion also - stowing away aboard a ship and having to scrounge for food, as in Dunked in the Deep (1949).
• A number of people getting cakes, pies, and other foodstuffs in the face as a consequence of Stooge mishaps, again as in An Ache in Every Stake (1941).
• Curly (or, in this case, Curly-Joe) gaining uncontrollable berserker strength as a consequence of hearing “Pop Goes the Weasel”, as in Punch Drunks (1934).
• The maharajah routine (“Ma-ha.” “Ah-ha?” “Rajah!”) from Three Little Pirates (1946).
• Larry being used as a reluctant human target for a knife-throwing act, again as in Three Little Pirates (1946).
• The Stooges – and, in this case, their companions also – being captured by a military enemy, but not letting that stop them from bopping their interrogator, as in Boobs in Arms (1940).
• Curly (or, in this case, Curly-Joe) getting clobbered and almost losing a fight in the ring to a stronger opponent because Larry doesn’t have immediate access to a musical instrument on which to play “Pop Goes the Weasel”, again as in Punch Drunks (1934).
• The fight-in-the-room-with-the-lights-turned-out routine, as in Who Done It? (1949).
• The Stooges – or, in this case, an associate – being accused of a robbery, but ultimately capturing the crooks, recovering the loot, and clearing his name, as in Of Cash and Hash (1955).
• The Stooges helping a colleague win the hand of the girl of his dreams, as in Knutzy Knights (1954).

See also

• List of American films of 1963

References

External links

• The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze at the Internet Movie Database
• The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze at AllMovie
• The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze at threestooges.net